1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices, systems, and methods for performing molecular reactions, and more specifically to microfluidic devices, systems, and methods for performing molecular reactions.
2. Background Information
Determination of the entire sequence of the human genome has provided a foundation for identifying the genetic basis of diseases such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia and muscular dystrophy. However, a great deal of work remains to be done to identify the genetic variations associated with each disease and to develop more sensitive and accurate tests for these diseases. This development would be accelerated greatly if efficiency and product yields of present methods were improved.
Current methods for determining nucleic acid sequence information are laborious, expensive, and inefficient. This is indicative of the shortcomings of many current molecular reactions used in biotechnology, such as DNA synthesis or carbon nanotube production, which provide a low reaction yield of the desired product. In addition, many side reactions occur in macromolecule reactions that yield undesirable products. Finally, lack of synchronization in multi-molecule polymer reactions (e.g. exonuclease DNA sequencing) results in inaccurate results.
To attempt to overcome their shortcomings, current methods usually require a large excess of reagent, which results in more side reaction and higher cost. Furthermore, in many cases reactions must be performed in multiple steps and require nucleic acid manipulation. For example, a desired “block” of a macromolecule is synthesized and then linked (i.e. ligated) to form a final product (e.g. insert a modified gene into a plasmid). This results in inefficient methods with relatively low yield and low product purity.